PD James – I would help a loved one die

The novelist PD James has said that she is in favour of assisted suicide and would help a terminally ill loved one end their life.

Baroness James, 91, said that she would be prepared to risk prosecution to help a friend or family member die if there was “nothing to be done” and they “wanted to go”.

The best selling author of detective fiction revealed her views on assisted dying in an interview with Tatler magazine. She said: “If I had someone I loved who was in intolerable pain, nothing to be done and wanted to go, I would do something myself…

Earlier this year, the issue of assisted suicide was debated in Parliament for the first time in almost 40 years and the House of Commons has backed legal guidelines limiting the chances of loved-ones being prosecuted for assisting someone to take their own life.

What? Did you expect the voice of religion to support a humanitarian decision?

In the interview which is published this week, Lady James also said that she would use whatever force necessary to protect those close to her if they came under attack.

“If I saw someone attacking one of my grandchildren in a way that was going to kill and I had a knife, I’d stop it,” she said. “And maybe I’d stop him straight away by sticking the knife in. And I think the better so.”

My kind of cranky old geezer. I’m certain we could finds lots to disagree about, political differences. But, the willingness to stand up and fight back against injustice isn’t something we exactly have a surplus of in the Western world.